Vaughan woman aims to help feral felines

YorkRegion.com
July 17, 2014
By Mark Subryan

For Vaughan resident Francesca Ciccodemarco, rescuing feral cats is not something she likes to do, it is something she has to do.

A true animal lover since her childhood growing up in Abbruzzi, Italy, Ciccodemarco, a 45-year-old mother of two daughters, spends almost all her free time helping save cats.

From her Woodbridge base, she has travelled as far as Orangeville in her drive to get feral cats spayed and neutered so they can avoid being euthanized.

“I love animals in general and I think we need to take responsibility because we create so many unfortunate animals, especially cats. They didn’t start out to be feral. It takes just one cat that you don’t spay or neuter and they get kittens and they keep going,” Ciccodermarco said.

An artist by trade, her husband works in the paving business, allowing the Vaughan woman the time to devote to her passion of saving felines.

“It’s really a full-time job without being paid, but I like to do the right thing, not just for them (cats) but for the children too because they need to know how to make it better for the future,” she said.

Making it better is a big job that involves a lot of time and attention. Not only does Ciccodemarco have to trap and rescue feral cats in Vaughan, she then has to make the 80-kilometre round trip to the Toronto Humane Society as there are no local facilities for spaying and neutering the animals free of charge here.

Because she is registered, she can get them spayed and neutered by the THS and then try to get them located with a loving home. She also attempts to teach neighbours and local residents the right way to trap feral cats.

“It’s a process that is easy. People can contact me personally or through a friend. I don’t want cats destroyed,” she said.

Ciccodemarco says she has probably rescued about a 100 cats over the past couple of years and said all the work has been well worth it. She said cats help keep the rodent population down and that destroying cats, “is not humane. If we want children to have compassion, we have to teach them to love animals. For a civilized community it’s really wrong (to put animals down) and like Gandhi always said, you can see how civilized a nation is in the way it treats its animals. We share the earth with animals, we don’t own it. I do it because I love animals. I respect Mother Nature,” she said.

If you know of a cat that needs rescuing, contact Ciccodemarco at 416-717-2920.